[Equus]

Originally Posted by abhi.kedlaya

I ask this because, Maruti hadn't invited Team-BHP for the review of the new Swift . If my memory serves me right, a fellow member shared his car for the review to the Mod team.

Are you serious?? Or was it the old swift in 2005? Thats maybe pardonable..

Anyways, i wouldnt care a hoot whether Ertiga dethrowns Innova or not.. The Indian buyer as a decent 7-seater option from Maruti stable. Thats a lot of good news in itself.

Who dethrowns whom - the market decides that. And the market is always right.

For the record - Innova has a 4 months waiting period? Alteast for the top end, when I enquired late last year..

[naut]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Though the question was shot to a mod, my points.

1. GTO has already pointed in one of the threads that the review will come soon.

2. Another mod, in one of the threads, stated that official reviews will be published in tandem with the official car launch. So I expect the review to be published on 12 Mar 2012.

3. Though team-bhp was NOT invited for the new Swift launch, mods were invited for the "new Dzire" launch which happened after Swift's launch!

Thanks "SnF". Gives me hope. Will look forward to 12-Apr-12.

Originally Posted by Equus

Are you serious?? Or was it the old swift in 2005? Thats maybe pardonable..

This is indeed True! Check out the new swift review thread by GTO.

[sanjubaba]

Originally Posted by paliontile

As someone mentioned above rightly - if u r looking for a genuine 7 seater ertiga is not for u - coz maybe the engine cudn't lug u or the suspension cudn't bear the load etc etc.

I still don't buy the argument that a 1.3 diesel is gud enough to carry 7 ppl and luggage - if so the innovas wudn't have come with those 2ltr+ engines, they wud have made use of the etios' diesel engine itself. But alas the USP of maruti is to attract the masses - and the masses wud love to cram 10 ppl in a hatchback if it's possible - no matter the suspension, no matter the load on the engine - as long as it's maruti and as long as the FE figures are good!!!

I think power should not be much of an issue, you know the 175/200 CC Auto pulls 4-5 people easily and runs at 60+ kmph.
So of course, agree that it will have impact on performance, for example it may not run like swift/desire, but as a people mover, it should give descent performance, things like 0-100 etc might/rather will affect. But top speed should not.
Again as pointed out by most people, it depends on how many times you have all 7 inside. I am rather interested to have 'can carry 7' otherwise 'spacious to carry more luggage point' when third row folded.

-Sanjubaba

[swiftnfurious]

I believe Ertiga will NOT be a flop, but will neither be in the range of Swift / Dzire. My guesstimate is a 4000 units monthly! Don't think this car will pose a great threat to other proper MUVs as well! It will have it's own market. When I say this, I still would NOT mind some share of the MPVs to go into this car; that might force the current players to get more sensible with the pricing or add additional features making those products closer or much closer to VFM! Talk about being greedy eh?

Slightly Off-topic:

Originally Posted by Equus

Are you serious?? Or was it the old swift in 2005? Thats maybe pardonable...

...For the record - Innova has a 4 months waiting period? Alteast for the top end, when I enquired late last year..

Regarding 2011 Swift TD, unfortunately yes! But I guess that was the biggest blunder Maruti did! team-bhp got hold of a VDi variant for the detailed TD & I believe, was the ONLY reputed entity to report the weak brakes of the lower variants! Had they invited for the TD, they would have provided the Z variants & this would have gone unnoticed. And probably they wanted to avoid the same feedback for Dzire & hence an invitation was extended.

Regarding Innova wait list, it used to be 6 months before, for any variant in Kottayam, Kerala. Things would have improved now on account of the increased production capacity [in fact it's almost 50% increase]!

[ajay0612]

Originally Posted by sanjubaba

I think power should not be much of an issue, you know the 175/200 CC Auto pulls 4-5 people easily and runs at 60+ kmph.

A lot depends on gearing ratios. I suspect that gearing is similar to Dezire, hence with 5 on board it will run like dezire, but with 7-8, it might have to climb up in 1-2 gears :-).

[Dr.Abhi]

Its simple logic guys. Innova is bigger, roomier and is one class above than ertiga. Innova is body on frame chassis based and weighs 1.6 tons. Then it has 2.5l engine which is good for 102 bhp power and 20.4 Nm of torque. Ertiga is one class below the Innova, is monocoque based, weighs 1.25 tons(350 kg less then innova and almost equal to Sx4 diesel). Its 1.3l engine produce 89 bhp power and 20.4 Nm of torque. Now as we know it is the torque which matters more in case of diesel engines, I assume Ertiga will be no slouch whether its 7 adults or 5 adults with luggage, single ac or double ac. Furthermore as per the ACI video review, MS engineers have kept the first three gears short so that the car doesn't stall at steep inclines with full load of passengers. The thing which is bothering me more is the soft suspension setup which although provide better ride will bottom out easily with full passenger load as pointed out in some post above. One more glitch which is bothering me is that you have to keep the middle seat row in the foremost condition in case you flip down the last seat for luggage thus hampering the leg room in front of second row. Engineers should also have kept the last row 50:50 split. I think it just my nature of cribbing or finding faults. It is just a marvelous package overall and if the MS price it right it is bound to succeed.
Drive safe.

[nayaksudhir]

Originally Posted by Dr.Abhi

One more glitch which is bothering me is that you have to keep the middle seat row in the foremost condition in case you flip down the last seat for luggage thus hampering the leg room in front of second row. Engineers should also have kept the last row 50:50 split. I think it just my nature of cribbing or finding faults. It is just a marvelous package overall and if the MS price it right it is bound to succeed.
Drive safe.

I agree... This will limit the utility for those who want to use it as a big hatch. Ideally it should have been a very comfortable, super 5 seater, if it couldn't be a great 7 seater.

The rear seat design, and the fact that middle seats lose their USP of 240mm slide & recline if one needs a big flat boot is a problem for me. It makes it an average 5 seater and a not-so-good 7 seater.

Let's see what the official team BHP review says about this important aspect.

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by Dr.Abhi

One more glitch which is bothering me is that you have to keep the middle seat row in the foremost condition in case you flip down the last seat for luggage thus hampering the leg room in front of second row.

I think this issue can be easily overcome by removing the head-rests of last row before folding down, right?

[benzinblut]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Ertiga looks so much like a Baby Innova. Goos to see a smaller SUV now being launched. I doubt whether it will make much of a dent in the Innova sales, but should as calimed by Maruti pioneer a new segment. Only how good or bad is it in handling our potholes with sometime bits of road in between.

Absolutely. It could be creating a new segment. Innovas are tight after even after many miles of taxi use. Maruti is known for its rattles. Hope maruti manages to make this one rattle free! Am I asking for too much?

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

I think this issue can be easily overcome by removing the head-rests of last row before folding down, right?

I would think so too. But not entirely sure, it purely depends on the design of the rails on which the middle row seat slides. It will be quite a shame that such a well designed car interior(as claimed in several reviews), has this as a major flaw.

[vibbs]

I was going through the reviews on one of the sites and in one of the photographs, the last seat is shown folded. Unfortunately it does seem the middle row cant be pushed back in that circumstance even with the head rest removed. It would be a shame if such a small detail has escaped the sights of designers in an otherwise well packaged product. I however may be wrong though. Waiting eagerly for the tbhp review to clear the air.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by nayaksudhir

The rear seat design, and the fact that middle seats lose their USP of 240mm slide & recline if one needs a big flat boot is a problem for me. It makes it an average 5 seater and a not-so-good 7 seater.

Let's see what the official team BHP review says about this important aspect.

Completely agree with dr Abhi and you on this aspect. I would also be very interested in this particular aspect and hope the official T BHP review covers this. This is a very important element of the USP it is trying to present at this price and size point.

The other area where I think is already a missed opportunity is providing 50:50 split seating for the 3rd row. This should have been easy to achieve and would have provided an important extra layer of flexibility in how the various rows and boot space are utilised.

On a separate note, in terms of taking away sales, one must recognise that it has created a new segment. Everyone is speaking of the innova sales it will eat into. IMHO, its target customers go well beyond the innova alone. I believe it will draw some customers from the innova, Xylo, dezire, SX4 etc, not just any one of these cars in particular. Just as it would appeal to certain innova customers who want a more compact version of the innova and willing to compromise on the relatively lesser space, it may also appeal to the dezire buyer who does not approve of the new dezire's limited boot space, or the compact sedan buyer (etios, sx4, dezire, sunny etc) who would like the occasional flexibility of more seats when required.

[sam003]

Launch is on 12th April as per odmag tweet. Lets see how Maruti Price this now.

[Enigmatic]

The Ertiga will be an obvious success as long as the speculated pricing comes true .

However comparing it to the Innova is not completely unjustified . If you come to think of it many "Private Owners" would prefer the Ertiga over the Innova for few reasons such as :-

1) It is smaller than the Innova and yet can seat 7 .
2) It would be a better daily use car thanks to its smaller size and frugal engine .
3) For a private owner , occasions when all the 7 seats are occupied are rare and hence the Ertiga fits the bill perfectly by providing for when such rare occasions arise .
4) The price difference between the two will also be a sufficient reason to win some hearts .

However for the Taxi segment , the Xylo and the innova would continue to sell like hot cakes .

Comparing the Ertiga to the Versa however is not justified as the Versa came into our markets when the market was not ready for such a product and also its pricing didn't do it any benefits .

However if you look at the recent and soon to be launches in this very segment :- XUV , Duster , Ecosport and the likes , this segment seems to have developed drastically .

All i do hope for is that Maruti can do something to cure the Lifelong waiting periods that are bound to happen !!

[niv26]

I don't think we can compare with Xylo or Innova.. The only match I see 7 seater and the rest is different.
As per the specs, The size HxWxL similar to Skoda Yeti which doesn't appeal as big car at all.. It's overgrown Wagon-R.